Seeing Gu Bai's gaze, Ma Ming felt a sudden shiver run through his heart.
He quickly brushed off the strange feeling. They were peers, who could scare who?
Gu Bai looked at him for a few seconds and then slowly said, "I'm in the directing department, and I really have no intention of becoming a big celebrity."
Hearing Gu Bai's words, Ma Ming adjusted his glasses and, with a slightly mocking smile, said, "There's not much difference. The entertainment industry is a circle, going round and round for the sake of money, right?"
Gu Bai nodded, "That's a fair point, most of it is for money."
When Ma Ming heard Gu Bai's words and was about to continue speaking, Gu Bai interrupted, "But I find your words quite interesting. Are the twenty to thirty thousand students at Zhen Dan University all as noble-minded as you?
Or do you think you can represent Zhen Dan?
Let's assume you're right, since anything associated with money sounds vulgar. If the person sitting in front of me today were an academician, someone who had made a significant contribution to the country, I'd definitely take their words as gospel and wouldn't dare say a word. But who do you think you are?
Have you genuinely paid taxes for the country?
Have you bought a house in Shanghai?
You have time to show off here, why don't you have time to look in the mirror and see if you're even qualified to say that?"
Since the gloves were off, there was nothing more to say.
Not intending to continue arguing with this hothead, Gu Bai finally said, "I look forward to seeing the news about how many bricks you've laid for the country's construction someday."
Then he put on his headphones and ignored him.
Seeing that Gu Bai was no longer engaging with him, even Li Yushi put on her headphones. Although Ma Ming was shaking with anger from being berated, he just played with his phone in silence.
The four or five-hour train journey was just the matter of two movies.
After the high-speed train announcement, Gu Bai put away his phone, retrieved his luggage, and also took down Li Yushi's luggage.
"Gu Bai, let's exchange contact info? We can hang out sometime,"
Li Yushi blinked and smiled at him.
Gu Bai gave a faint smile, "Shanghai is not that big, didn't you say we are destined to meet? We'll definitely see each other again."
After speaking, he dragged his luggage towards the train door.
To be honest, he quite liked this straightforward girl named Li Yushi, but unfortunately, she had practically written "I'm interested in you" on her face.
Being friends would be fine.
As for anything more, Gu Bai had no intention of leading someone on, nor did he plan to keep people around as backups. Being straightforwardly honest was more suitable.
Seeing Gu Bai leave, Ma Ming thought his chance finally arrived, hastily approached Li Yushi, "Let's exchange contact info? Anytime you can come and have fun at Zhen Dan."
Upon hearing this, Li Yushi packed her bag without looking up, already annoyed enough by being rejected by Gu Bai, and this Ma Ming just walked right into her line of sight, she glanced at him, "Gu Bai was right, you really could take a look in the mirror if you have time. And if you really don't have a mirror, there's always the toilet, isn't there?"
Having said that, she dragged her luggage and left, leaving Ma Ming standing there, his face alternating between green and red.
After leaving the station, the scorching sun immediately evaporated the moisture from Gu Bai's body to his surface, so he quickly caught a cab.
"Driver, to Shanghai Theatre Academy, please."
The driver didn't waste words, hit the gas, and the car took off.
"Young man, you're a new student at the academy, right? Coming early to check the school out?"
Most taxi drivers are chatty, and it seemed this one was no exception.
Gu Bai wiped some sweat and smiled, "I'm a sophomore, staying home was boring, so I came to school early."
The driver turned his head, studied Gu Bai's face closely.
"Young man, honestly speaking, your face is made for a celebrity's life, unlike my kid, who looks like me, a big pancake face, yet always clamoring about going to art school to become a star."
"It's always good to have hobbies. Besides, you don't have to be good-looking to be a star. Look at those who don't have the best looks but are still hugely popular."
"That's true, and I do support him having his dreams, but our family conditions don't allow it. I'm working myself to the bone driving a cab, earning just a few bucks a month barely enough after rent and utilities."
"Driver, you're not a native of Shanghai?"
The driver laughed, "How about that, how many native Shanghainese drive cabs? Anyone with a single property won't have to worry about food and drink for a lifetime?"
Hearing the driver's self-deprecation, Gu Bai paused and didn't reply. Even though he was living his second life, he still wasn't qualified to comment on the word 'life'.
Despite the city congestion, they quickly arrived at the academy's entrance.
After paying the fare, Gu Bai quickly headed toward the dorm with his suitcase.
The dormitories in Shanghai don't close during the summer break. Though not many people stay, there are always a few remaining.
At the entrance of the dorm building, the dorm supervisor lady was leisurely lounging on a recliner.
"Xiaogu, why did you come back to school so early?"
She still had quite the impression of Gu Bai's distinctive face.
"I was just feeling bored at home, so I decided to return to school early."
"You young folks just can't sit still. Did you bring your key? If not, auntie will get you a new one."
"I brought it. I have it."
After saying that, he bid farewell to the dorm supervisor and headed straight to his room.
As soon as he opened the door, a musty smell from a long-unoccupied room hit his nose. Gu Bai tolerated the odor, placed his luggage next to his desk, and opened the window to air out the room.
Coming back early to Shanghai, Gu Bai already had plans.
The first thing was his dream from both this life and the last — to buy a car, the supercar type.
As for why it's called a dream, it's literal. It's only something to think about in dreams; once awake, it's beyond reach.
The second thing was to find ways to boost his Confidence Value. After all, whether it was for making more money or upgrading the system, it all started with the Confidence Value.
Thirty million, it's not like it's just meant to sit in a bank account, right?
Money is meant to be spent, Gu Bai admitted that he's just that kind of vulgar person.
When you're broke, the goal is to make money, and the purpose of making money is to spend it.
Now the system had bypassed the step of making money for him, so why not spend it instead of hoarding it?
Thinking of this, Gu Bai opened WeChat, clicked on a group chat named "Abnormal Human Research Center," and sent in two photos.
This group was their dorm group. In this life, they had only been apart for just over a month, but counting the last life, Gu Bai hadn't seen them for over a year. In the grand dye vat of this bustling society, dorm friendships from college could absolutely be considered one of the strongest bonds.
After all, a bunch of teenagers meeting without too many entanglements of interest is already a stroke of fate, and it's easier to get along when interests align.
Not long after, the once silent group chat began to ping with messages one after another.
Lou Xun: "Damn, White Pieces, what are you doing back at school so early?"
Deng Bo: "Let the clever me guess, did you make an appointment with Goddess Zhai? Taking advantage of the few people at school, with the moon bright and stars sparse, the night dark and the wind high, clapping for love behind the school?
This move was too smooth, Brother Bai, even smoother than Mr. Tony Damu."
Wen Cunming: "Weakly asking, who is Mr. Tony Damu?"
Deng Bo: "Open the folder named 'Sino-Japanese Friendly Exchange' on your computer, the sixth file is a heartfelt performance by Tony Damu."
...
Looking at the group chat that shifted tone with just a few messages, Gu Bai, with a full forehead of black lines, directly typed: "Don't overthink, I've already peacefully broken up with Zhai Li. I'm the one who got dumped, and have already reported to the organization, applying to return to the family of single nobility."
After finishing his message, Gu Bai's phone rang with a call request.
Seeing the avatar, it was the least reliable person in the group, Deng Bo.
Already having a rough idea of what would be said, Gu Bai directly rejected the call.
Returning to the interface, aside from Deng Bo, there were missed calls from both Lou Xun and Wen Cunming.
"No need to call me. It's nothing. As the face of our dorm 404, do you think I'd lack female attention around me? Don't be naive, worry about yourselves instead, and don't spend all day mulling over the traditional skills of those virtuous Japanese teachers. When you get a chance, smell your hands, they're stained with the blood of your descendants!"
Deng Bo: "Do you think we called to comfort you? Stop kidding, we just want Goddess Zhai's contact info. Since you got dumped, it means we have a chance!"
Lou Xun: "Plus one."
Wen Cunming: "Plus 10086."
After a round of banter and jokes, once they confirmed Gu Bai was really okay, Deng Bo said again: "White Pieces, if you had returned to school two days earlier, I would still be in Shanghai. Now I'm in Kyoto with my dad, it'll be a few more days before I return."
"All right, it's no big deal on my end, I'm not a delicate little girl. We'll get in touch again when you're back in Shanghai."
With that, Gu Bai directly ended the first call he had with the "Abnormal Human Research Center" after being reborn.
After airing out the room for about an hour, the musty smell had entirely dissipated. Gu Bai closed the windows and door, turned on the air conditioning, and flopped onto the bed.
Gu Bai had no idea how life would change after his rebirth; the only thing he knew was that his life would only get better and more exciting.
With his eyes closed, the thought of owning what he could only dream of, a treasure, by tomorrow made Gu Bai exceptionally excited.